Kensuke Miyazaki bows at a press conference in Tokyo on February 12, 2016. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)

Kensuke Miyazaki, a 35-year-old Japanese ruling party lawmaker, resigned Friday for allegedly having an affair after announcing earlier in the week that he planned to take paternity leave to promote women’s rights. Miyazaki, a lower house member from Kyoto prefecture whose wife is also a member of parliament, drew both praise and criticism after saying he intended to take time off work to help care for his child. But after a weekly magazine reported Miyazaki had a rendezvous with a model six days before his wife gave birth, the topic of conversation rapidly shifted. Miyazaki bowed and apologized at a news conference broadcast live on Japanese television, and admitted that he and the woman had met three times. “I did something very cruel to my wife who just delivered a baby. I am in deep remorse,” said Miyazaki. “To those who took serious interest in the issue of men taking paternity leave, I deeply, deeply apologize.”